Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

As I said, I congratulate Mr Morrison, who, I might say, was ably assisted by the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Senator Cash, who is doing an equally sensational job in bringing our immigration system back to order.

I chaired the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, which looked into this bill in some depth. I note in Senator Carr's opening statement that his colleague Senator Faulkner did not have much confidence in Senator Carr's ability to handle this immigration question, and Senator Carr had to reply to Senator Faulkner: 'I have read the bill. I can now explain to you what it is about.' Apparently he could not do that in caucus yesterday. Good on you, Senator Carr. I hope Senator Faulkner is now happy with your management of the portfolio on behalf of the opposition. I must say I am always confused about who in the Labor Party is dealing with this. At estimates Senator Singh seems to take the lead role, and she seems to know a little bit about it and is reasonably confident. Senator Jacinta Collins seems to know quite a lot about it and makes some very intelligent and worthwhile contributions to the deliberations of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, which deals with all of these immigration matters. Whether it is Senator Singh, Senator Collins or Senator Carr, I do not know. I do not really care, though it is important. The most important part of Senator Carr's speech was that he, as the shadow minister, and his party will be supporting this bill, and I am pleased about that.

I want to refer very briefly to a couple of issues. Senator Carr has gone through some of the technical details. The second reading speech goes through them in some detail as well.